Veganism is the lifestyle philosophy of people that avoid eating, wearing, or using animal products or their by-products. They don’t eat meat or the products that derive from animals, even when the animal is not killed, such as milk. Now the rationales for adopting this lifestyle vary. Some do it for alleged health benefits, others for supposed environmental reasons, and other still on the basis of some ethical theory about not wanting animals to suffer (cf. Peter Singer’s Animal Liberation). Of … [Read more...]
Inside Big Green’s Sausage Factory
When my wife was a student at Hillsdale College __ years ago (Nope! Not telling!), some student friends worked in a sausage factory nearby. They literally waded in hip boots in vast vats of various parts of cattle and pig carcasses headed for massive grinders. “I’ll never eat sausage again!” was their common reaction. That’s not to say (properly cooked) sausage isn’t really safe, but it gives some idea how the saying arose that you never want to watch legislation being crafted because it’s a … [Read more...]
Why It’s Misleading to Speak of “Ocean Acidification”
Calling a decline in pH of ocean water from 8.2 to 8.1 (which is calculated to have happened over recent decades, perhaps in response to rising atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration though other causes are possible) “acidification,” meaning “becoming more acidic,” is misleading at best. Something can’t become “more acidic” unless it’s already acidic, and a solution with a pH higher than 7.0 is by definition not acidic but basic. Earth's five oceans vary in pH from about ~7.9 to ~8.3, and pH … [Read more...]
Unelected, Unaccountable Greens Dictated Clean Power Plan to EPA
Emails obtained by the Energy & Environment Legal Institute under FOIA demonstrate that EPA almost certainly violated federal law by using private email to correspond with the Natural Resources Defense Council, correspondence in which NRDC essentially drafted critical parts of the "Clean Power Plan," or even, as the Wall Street Journal puts it, "the rule," not just critical parts. Imagine if some pro-coal organization(s) had done the same in the preparation of an EPA regulation. The Left … [Read more...]
Think Carefully Before Welcoming Humane Society Policies
Humans should only be eating animals raised under humane conditions. Sounds perfectly innocent doesn’t it? After all who wants to think of animals suffering just so that he/she can have a cheap burger or chicken patty? This is essentially the argument cleverly proffered by Pete Letheby in the article “Farmers team up with the Humane Society on behalf of animals” published in the Fall 2015 edition (p. 24) of Ag in Action by the Lewistown News-Argus (Lewistown, MT). The problem with this article … [Read more...]
Stop the Bear Hunt?
In June of 2015, the Florida Fish and Game Commission approved the hunting of black bears. The hunt took place in late October. Stop the Bear Hunt, an anti-bear hunting protest industry group, provides 4 reasons why the Florida bear hunt is a bad idea. Let’s take a look at each one and see if the Commission’s decision was misguided. Argument 1. The hunt is unnecessary and unwarranted. Stop the Bear Hunt claims that bear numbers have not reached habitat carrying capacity and that killing bears … [Read more...]
California’s Fish and Wildlife Commission Vs The Environment
If I were to ask you, “In your opinion, what state in the continental U.S. best exemplifies a desire to care and preserve the environment on a sustainable level?” How would you answer? Note, I am not asking what state has the best environment as that could be simply a reflection of its population. It’s hard to have pollution when you have few people. Nor am I asking what state you would like to live in. I am asking what state works the hardest on protecting the environment from the perspective … [Read more...]
One Small Step toward Reining in the EPA
A Cincinnati-based federal court recently put a hold on the federal EPA's controversial "Waters of the United States" rule that would have put farm ponds, drainage ditches, and similar waters, by no means navigable, under its rule, constituting a huge expansion of EPA authority at the expense of states' sovereignty and property owners' rights. As Larry Bell writes, Applying EPA’s interpretation, the agency defines waters of the United States so broadly that they could regulate virtually any wet … [Read more...]
“The End of Doom” Sadly Doesn’t Mean the End of Doomsters
In previous books Ecoscam (1993), The True State of the Planet (edited, 1995), Earth Report 2000 (edited, 2000), Global Warming and Other Eco-myths (edited, 2002), and Liberation Biology (2005), plus many articles in Reason and elsewhere, Ronald Bailey has marshaled, often with other authors, massive amounts of hard data against environmental doomsters' claims of present or predictions of future disasters from population growth, resource depletion, pollution, species extinction, and … [Read more...]
The Quandary of the Usual
Something unusual is happening on Isle Royale. What’s to be done? Before we consider this, let’s consider another story. Let’s see what Mommy’s friends are up to. By “Mommy” I mean “Mother Nature.” Here’s the story as told by her friends: Mother Nature has a bunch of connected parts. They keep each other and every “ecosystem” healthy and “in balance.” If any part is tampered with, uh-oh! Out of balance. You’ve heard this story before. It is taught daily in North America’s schools and … [Read more...]
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